A Chinese herbalist, martial artist, and tactical advisor Li Ching-Yuen or Li Ching-Yun is known for his longevity. According to the record, he was born in 1677 Whereas Li Ching-Yuen himself claimed to be born in 1736. He was a beloved member of his community and reportedly married 23 times, fathering some 200 children in the process.
A professor of the Chengdu University asserted that Li was born in 1677; according to a 1930 New York Times article, Wu discovered Imperial Chinese government records from 1827 congratulating Li on his 150th birthday, and further documents later congratulating him on his 200th birthday in 1877. In 1928, a New York Times correspondent wrote that many of the old men in Li's neighborhood asserted that their grandfathers knew him when they were boys, and that he at that time was a grown man.
However, a correspondent of The New York Times reported that "many who have seen him recently declare that his facial appearance is no different from that of persons two centuries his junior. Moreover, gerontological researchers have viewed the age claim with extreme skepticism; the frequency of invalid age claims increases with the claimed age, rising from 65% of claims to ages 110–111 being invalid, to 98% of claims to be 115, with a 100% rate for claims of 120+ years. It is unclear though what, if any, implications these statistics have for the subject under discussion, as these figures refer to "false claims due to administrative errors" in Belgian public records.
Researchers have called his claim "fantastical" and also noted that his claimed age at death, 256 years, is a multiple of 8, which is considered good luck in China, and therefore is indicative of fabrication. Additionally, the connection of Li's claimed age to his spiritual practices has been pointed to as another reason for doubt; researchers perceived that "these types of myths are most common in the far East.
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